Irate Consumer Fighting Back

March 27, 1985|By Leigh Behrens.

When a local service station last summer demanded that Dennis Argyrakis pay a car repair bill $200 higher than the agreed upon price--a result, he was told, of ``nickel and dime`` extras too numerous and petty to bother phoning him about--the Niles resident got angry.

``Taking it to small claims court might have ended up losing me money in the end,`` Argyrakis said. So instead, he made a flurry of phone calls: to the chamber of commerce, to the state`s attorney`s office, to the local office of the American Automobile Association and even to local businesses near where the repair shop was located.

``I kept phoning like crazy,`` Argyrakis said. And soon, the effort paid off. Owners of the repair shop offered Argyrakis his money back if he would stop the campaign against the shop.

``They realized that having people know about dissatisfied customers isn`t too good for business,`` Argyrakis said.

And though the 40-year-old Vietnam veteran and former Chicago policeman contends he never envisioned himself as a Ralph Nader-type consumer crusader, he decided others might benefit from his success.

So Argyrakis has quit his job as a writer for Northrop Corp. Defense Systems Division, Rolling Meadows, and is starting ``Consumer Complaint Letters,`` an endeavor he hopes will save consumers from being ripped off.

The publication will include complaints about businesses and the responses Argyrakis seeks from the businesses. The newsletter will be distributed locally--he hopes it can be sold in high-traffic convenience stores--so other merchants and consumers are aware of shady practices.

If not monitored, ``bad business can get away with a lot,`` Argyrakis said. ``I want them to know that if they do rip people off, everybody in the neighborhood is going to know it.``

The result, he believes, will benefit both consumers and employers. Consumers will know to steer clear of businesses with a considerable number of complaints, and the reputable business community ``may eventually be rid of the fly-by-night or dishonest merchants by virtue of their own reputations.`` The whole process will be free to the consumer; there will be no court fees or lawyers` bills. Argyrakis said he hopes to make money by charging a still undetermined fee for the newsletters, to be published, initially, on a quarterly basis.

But, mindful of his own legal constraints, Argyrakis said letters published will be edited for defamatory or libelous remarks.

``I have to stay middle of the road. I won`t mediate disputes . . . but I`ll present both sides as fairly as I can. I just want to stick to the meat of the complaint,`` he said.

Letters are beginning to trickle in for the first issue, planned for publication soon, but Argyrakis already has hopes of broadening its scope. He`d like to include complaints about unresponsive public officials and even police officers.

Argyrakis envisions the publication someday going nationwide, airing complaints from California to New York and doing newsstand battle with the likes of Time, People and Consumer Reports. ``I`d love to see it next to TV Guide,`` he said.